China Eximbank provides $260 million preferential buyer’s credit for Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport Expansion Project

On February 17, 2009, China Eximbank and Airport Terminal Operations Limited (ATOL) — a state-owned company in Mauritius — signed a $260,000,000 preferential buyer’s credit (PBC) agreement for the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport Expansion Project. The PBC carries the following borrowing terms: a 20 year maturity, a 5 year grace period, and a 2% interest rate. The total cost of the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport Expansion Project was $305 million and the borrower was expected to use the PBC (loan) proceeds to finance approximately 85% of the total project cost (and 85% of the total cost of a commercial contract with China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Co Ltd.). The loan’s outstanding amount as of June 30, 2018 was $181,959,183. Its outstanding amount as of June 30, 2021 was $103,976,676. This project involved the construction of a new passenger terminal at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport in the village of Plaine Magnien. It also involved a 59,000 square meter expansion of the airport’s apron and the construction of a parking lot, cooling station, and emergency power generation unit. Upon completion, it was envisaged that the new facility — with a total area of 57,000 square meters — would be able to accommodate 4.5 million passengers each year, thus doubling the baseline capacity of the airport. The new passenger terminal was designed by Aéroports de Paris Management (ADPM) and Aéroports de Paris Engineering (ADPI). Louis Berger Group Inc. and Aéroports de Paris Ingenierie also served as consultants. China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Co Ltd. — a subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. — was the contractor responsible for project implementation. It was awarded a construction contract on December 30, 2009. Construction began on March 30, 2011. The project was officially completed at an inauguration ceremony that took place on August 30, 2013. The new passenger terminal has 5 new aircraft parking stands in addition to the 3 existing ones of the old passenger terminal and 8 passenger boarding bridges for simultaneous handling of 6 wide-bodied aircrafts and 3 passenger boarding bridges for handling of A380 aircraft. At peak time, the passenger terminal can handle up to 15 flights departures and arrivals. The public car park area has room for a total of more than 1300 vehicles and the elevated roadway to the passenger terminal has two separate lanes to allow better fluidity in the dropping off of passengers.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport (SSR) Upgrade - Passenger Terminal Project. The Chinese project title is 毛里求斯——拉姆古兰机场 or 西沃萨古尔·拉姆古兰爵士国际机场. 2. The Government of Mauritius holds a 90% ownership stake in ATOL through Airports of Mauritius Ltd (another state-owned company in Mauritius). 3. Some sources identify the cost of the commercial (EPC) contract as $301 million rather than $305 million. This issue warrants further investigation.

Number of official sources

27

Number of total sources

42